36 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
the jumpers over the traces are known, and if they have 
materially gained by it, it must be in some other source 
than the increase of their retail business. There is no 
good, sound reason, why a uniform rate of compensa¬ 
tion to new men should not be agreed upon and lived 
up tOj and to the benefit of all retailers, with no back 
action, rebate attachment, leading an agent to believe a 
big offer would be made at the end of the month or so, 
and same be paid from start. • We know of parties in 
the retail trade who are offering the outside limit of 
commission to new men, and what is more, offering to 
pay it all down, weekly. The business will not warrant 
it. Every one with a competent bookkeeper knows it. 
We presume it is out of sheer desperation, as they are 
for the most part doing a “ Tom Thumb ” business. 
The matter of a list of dead-beat agents, to be 
revised and published monthly, is also a thing no one 
could afford to be without, if names are properly 
reported—only proper names handed in for such lists, 
etc. But here is where the “ greedy rogue ” gets in his 
work again. He has a row perhaps with one of his good 
men, and cannot consistently put him to work again, or 
he may wish to make him “toe the mark” on some 
matter, and to prevent his securing work of another 
^house, or another house employing him, he will publish 
such agent in the dead beat list, when in reality he is a 
safe man to employ. There are lots of cranky, hard 
agents to get satisfactory work out of ; parenthetically 
we might add, that there are lots of cranks employing 
and handling salesmen. 
Imagine, if you can, the army of canvassers employed 
by the retailers, the amount of money and work involved 
in securing them, and the pains and patience it requires 
to keep them in line. Where is there a better field for 
combination, united action, living up to such by-laws as 
an association might adopt ? We dare say the editor 
will kindly give space for replies to above points, either 
by sincere advocates of these measures, or by those who 
wish to come into the fold and again kick over the 
traces. A few remarks from one of the latter class 
explaining “why and where he is at” ought to prove 
interesting, to say the least. 
An Advocate of United Action. 
S. M. Emery, of Lake City, Minn., vice-president 
of the American Association of Nurserymen, has been 
requested to assume the directorship of an experiment 
station in Montana. A better selection would be diffi¬ 
cult to find, says the American Agriculturist, for Mr. 
Emery has had large experience in experimental and 
educational work as an active regent of the Minnesota 
University in charge of its School of Agriculture and 
Experiment Station. 'He is also one of the most success¬ 
ful among the horticulturists, dairymen, breeders, and 
general farmers of the Northwest, and is familiar with 
Montana’s interests. 
COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 
Result of fifteen years experience with various kinds 
APPLIED TO NCRSERY-ROW—THE NEEDED ELEMENT OP 
PLANT LIFE FOUND AFTER REPEATED FAILURE WITH COM¬ 
PLETE AND SPECIAL FERTILIZER—BEST MODE OF APPLI¬ 
CATION-PERCENTAGE OP AVAILABLE PLANT FOOD. 
Mr. Terry’s article in the February number of your 
valuable paper on this subject prompts me to give my 
experience. My opinion is that if Mr. Terry gets the 
right kind of material in that ‘ ‘ bushel basket ’ ’ he will 
have a pleasant experience to give, but if on the other 
hand he hopes to succeed by the use of the ‘ ‘ special ’ ’ 
fertilizer, manufactured and sold as the panacea for all 
the nurseryman’s ills, he will have more experience in the 
way of a depleted pocket book than in an increased 
growth of his stock. 
I am located in a purely agricultural district, where it 
is impossible to get barnyard manure at any price, except 
that which is made on my own place ; this I use on my 
nursery ground, or in my farming operations as circum¬ 
stances may require. Being thus located, it became 
necessary for me from the start to resort to the use of 
commercial fertilizers. In this my experience has been 
quite varied, and the lessons learned rather expensive ; 
yet I believe I have succeeded in finding the one element 
of plant life which we all need. 
The principle adopted by intelligent farmers in the 
rotation of crops, to use a complete fertilizer, is in the 
general way a good one. Another principle on which 
many successful farmers base their operations is to apply 
to the soil those elements of plant life in which experience 
has shown them their soils are deficient. While either, 
or both these rules may be good for the farmer, they will 
not bring satisfactory results to the nurseryman. What 
we want to do is to put into the ground that which our 
trees will assimilate and give back to us at once, with 
good interest, in the way of increased growth of clean, 
smooth, bright stock. 
After a series of partial failures in using ‘ ‘ complete 
fertilizer,” I became convinced that I was acting on a 
wrong principle. I then began looking up some “special’’ 
grade of fertilizer. These too, gave only partial satisfac¬ 
tion, so that I was compelled to extend my experience. 
I next decided to give my trees just that element which I 
believed they needed to insure a satisfactory growth. I 
was, however, at a loss to know from what source I should 
obtain this one element, but after considerable inquiry 
and some correspondence, I began using kainit quite 
extensively. I soon learned though, that this was still 
not what I wanted, as it proved quite expensive and failed 
to push-the stock to that degree of development which I 
desired it should reach. The following year I was per¬ 
suaded by the advice of an old nurseryman, coupled with 
that of a friend who was manufacturing fertilizer, to use 
